How Are Groundhogs Connected to an Endangered Language?

February 2 marks Groundhog Day. While the frost is still thick on the ground in some places of the country, we want to explore the unusual origin of the common name for the herbivorous burrower Marmota monax. Where does the term groundhog come from?

Groundhogs are not at all related to hogs, so their compound name is only partially accurate: they indeed live close to the ground. The other common name for the marmots is equally confusing. Woodchucks do not chuck or throw around wood, despite the popular tongue twister that queries how much they would if they could. As burrowing rodents, they don’t have much to do with wood or trees at all. In fact, the name woodchuck is an anglicized loanword from the Algonquian word wuchak.

Pause here for a moment. That language of origin is Algonquian, a now extremely endangered language spoken across North America before the arrival of Europeans. Algonquian dialects dominated in the north and east parts of North America but were also used as far away as the Rockies. Tribes that spoke dialects of Algonquian include the Blackfoot and Cheyenne, Ojibwa and Potawatomi, Fox, Shawnee, Massachusett, Mohican, Powhatan, and Shinnecock. Besides the humble woodchuck, English derives several other words from Algonquian languages. Native flora and fauna dominate the list, which includes chipmunk, caribou, hickory, squash, hominy, moose, opossum, and raccoon.

Regardless of whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow this year, stay warm, eat some chicken soup, and try to keep alive the rich heritage of American English.

Woodchucks, marmots, groundhogs, whistle-pigs – never mind what you call them, they’re cute! I hope Phil didn’t see his shadow today (haven’t heard yet)…it’s been a long, cold winter in Georgia. Although snow is cool (in more ways than one).

@wolf tamer and tree puncher:
OH MY GOSH!!! YOU NAME-STEALER!!! THAT WAS MY NAME!!! But then again, since I’m now a coal miner, I guess you can have it…

Three thousand year old language? What is that even supposed to mean? If you are talking about PA, then perhaps. Though if you apply the same standard evenly, considering PIE, then arguably the English tongue is a SIX thousand year old language. That ought to warrant a double pause. Either that, or your idea of an old language is asinine.

Okay, I used to live in Vermont, where they have a lot of woodchucks. One used to live under the stairs outside one of the dorms at Norwich University and come out at dusk to graze on the bank between the dorm and the science building. And I spent some time in Philadelphia, where woodchucks actually live in the city. The animal pictured at the top of this article looks like a prairie dog, not a woodchuck/groundhog. Anybody else notice that? Yes, I realize someone probably already commented on this fact, but I haven’t read the comments yet, just the article. Google Punxetawny Phil and compare the picture to the one above. It’s not the same kind of animal. Sure, its a really fat prairie dog, but it’s no groundhog.

ummmm maybe I missed something but this article went offtrack and never actually answered the question. What was the word it came from? I understand that the word is from the ancient native language, but could that idea be investigated a bit????? What does “groundhog” specifically come from?

P.S. “Canada / Kanada” may also be related to the name of the island of Candia, the former name of Crete (also Iráklion Hráklion Herakleon), where the sea-going peoples of father-Sidon (p’Sidon Poseidon) lost their main city when the southern half of the island sank ca 2345 BC. (The later Greeks called it, Atlantis.)

The Al-Gonqui (American Algonquian indians) –arriving in America, long before St. Brendan, Leif Ericson/Erikson, Christopher Columbus, Barack Obama,– are far more interesting by their connections to Mesopotamian Sumer (Iraqian Sumerian indigens):–

Not only words like Illinois Illiniwek (prob. Ellil or Enoch), but also their story of Noah’s Flood slightly-off, (cf the Greeks are famous for slightly-off god-story): TO WIT–

The Algonqui said that the flood was caused when Manabush Ma-Nabu-uk/-ush killed two of the Anamaqkiu spirits who lived in the underworld, the mountain rift in which Apsu and Tiamut lived but whom Nabu’s fathers, Enki and Marduk had killed, before the flood, before the centuries of ‘wickedness’, in the era of Anu’s Anunnaki (prob. the same as Anamaqkiu if not their younger generations)….

(In some ways…like the Pacific islanders: whose Maui came with the sungod captured aboard but was in fact sungod Ra’s navigator and Ra was principal passenger (not captured per se)– they knew some of “the old opinion….”)

i never knew that!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh well… who cares anyway?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Have you ever seen how they get these varmits out of their holes? The have a huge fan that sucks them out. Of course it is completely humane. They wear little helmets, knee and elbow pads for protection. Is that okay PETA?

Ah, boozhoo. Kal indizhinikaaz miinwash bahwating indoojiba. Hi, my English name is Kal and I’m from the Sault Ste. Marie Ojibwe tribe. I speak and am learning Ojibwe, an Algonquian language. For Evy: at least in Ojibwe as far as I know: racoon is esiban, chipmunk is agongos and moose is mooz. Sorry I don’t know the literal translation for those ones. My favorite animal word is for owl: gookooko’oo.

As a Pennsylvania native and someone who has actually been to Punxsutawney I can assure you that those things are everywhere and have many colloquial names: groundhog, woodchuck, whistle pig. Nobody from PA ever refers to them as marmots, at least not that I ever heard. I still can’t understand how the events that occur in Punxy tomorrow rate worldwide news coverage. I don’t know anyone who lives in PA who really cares about Phil. Personally, I’ve seen my dog kill dozens of those things in my lifetime. Weird excuse to throw a party in another boring PA town if you ask me. POLKA!

hey!its groundhogs day eve!!happy groundhogs day eve everyone!!!… did you ever see the geico commercial with the woodchucks. they were actually chucking the wood haha funny as a purple bunny<<haha i rhymed there<<

Steve… you are right! What difference does it make anyway? Hee hee hee!
Evy, good point… I would like to know those words too…
Lol @ Jim, Tamsin, GROUNDHOGDAY|Blogchi…, and The Demon Ira… You guys made me laugh!
Also, Perdition, Lam Lam, Mojo, and Mike McKelvy… Awesome extra information! I think it’s cool how people go a little above and beyond to research a little extra work on their own time!

Steve… Here ya go: “According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If, on the other hand, it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly “see its shadow” and retreat back into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.” Got that from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day

And lastly, tamara, I didn’t quite understand your run-on sentence. It made no sense whatsoever. Sorry, but that was 3 sentences in one and I had no idea what you were talking about in the first place. You must be in about 5th grade? If so, no biggie. If not, take an english/grammar class. just sayin…

As for me… I think the whole thing is a rather amusing story. It’s funny to imagine how the whole thing went down… The dude sees the woodchuck (originally the badger) come out of his hole look around look down at the ground at his shadow, thinking it’s something else coming for him and scurries back into it’s hole… The person laughs and keeps walking on… then, an unusally longer winter comes, and that dude who saw the creature, thinks back on it and has this “life-changing” realization… “This is all because of that groundhog! I just know it!” And that, my friends, is how it all came to be…. Lol!!
Just playin!

Hi Holly, just in case you love this dictionary.com post enough to return to it, I thought I’d point out that the groundhog is also known as a woodchuck or a marmot. A groundhog is a marmot is a woodchuck is a wuchak. “…their initial compound name is only partially accurate…” I guess no one could make up their mind about what to call it… cute?

I never remember: if he sees his shadow is it 6 more weeks of winter or if he doesnt’t see his shadow? Either way, 6 weeks from Feb 2 is just short of the beginning of spring, so what difference does it make anyway?

[...] Groundhog day the event — the Movie — Woodchuck Insurance commercials — The exploited Marmots need better representation. — Fortunately, they take a lot of work to prepare for a Mongolian Barbecue or in any other situation — depending on where you go — taste better than the shadow. –>>Rupert L.T.Rhyme [...]

The animal in the photo is not a woodchuck, but rather a black-tailed prairie dog. Black-tailed prairie dogs don’t hibernate, so emerging on February 2 is just another day in Prairie Dog Town. Whether is casts a shadow, or not, probably won’t affect anyone’s weather. Thought you’d want to know.

I like your name, too, Holly. My birthday is tomorrow, and I want him to see his shadow!:)With all this snow, I want more! I don’t agree with you boo boo! Well, gotta go! Later, all of you, especially you holly! :):) bye! and thank you http://www.dictionary.com!

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck…? Well, if his name was Woodchuck Norris, he could chuck all the wood he would want! Oh, and he would never be afraid of his shadow, so there would always be an early spring Bow before chuck!

i love animals .so it’s good that dictionary com included a interesting post about woodchucks! they are very cute. just like squirrels!

also who is celebrating groundhog day i am we celebrate every occasion whether its not very famous or very famous!

dictionary com please include more posts about animals !they’re very important in the world and also we are animals have u ever known that

and also dictionary com i love this post on woodchucks but no offence what does a woodchuck have to do with groundhog day anyway? dont worry i still love this post it is very interesting .dont think that just because of this i hate it altogether!!

Interesting name, isn’t it? Another word that is not in common use today.. But, I’ve been using it since 2007, when I learned what the definition of Perdition actually means: Perdition- Final state of spiritual ruin; damnation.

This was a very informative article and thank you for the insight. Here in Canada, many names of cities, provinces, and even the country come from either: Iroquois, or Algonquin languages which were used from the maritime provinces to the Rocky Mountains. Such as, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Tecumseh, Toronto, even Canada has its roots to misinterpret of the word “Kanata” which means Village!